Murdoch’s World

The man at the center of the maelstrom sat across the parents of a dead girl, his head cradled in his hands.

Yet again, truth is stranger, more confusing, and more terrifying than fiction.

Rupert Murdoch may not be a name someone unrelated to the world of media can recognise. Fox News, News of the World (hacking scandal), Wall Street Journal may be mainstream names enough to give an inkling about to where the man’s tentacles reach. This book tells about News Corp, but mostly the man in charge: Rupert Murdoch.

It is impressive, how he took over the (media) world, buying and influencing and pushing in any way he wanted to and could. Politicians, law and other authorities have experienced what working with and against him could result in, and thousands of people can thank him for a job.

But (isn’t there always a but): Murdoch thinks he’s above and beyond the law. Uses his power and channels to affect societies, and that’s when a very dystopian look of things shows. The one media that is a fortress, acting like it has The Truth and attacking those that are not with them.

It’s a detective times horror story times family drama, which left me very curious about what will happen when this empire falls. And not just because of the deserved reckoning for a lot of people involved.

Murdoch’s World: The last of the old media empires, David Folkenflik, PublicAffairs 2013